Power Play

He may not pitch like a pro ball player but Curtis Jackson (AKA hip-hop star 50 Cent) showed off his other strengths Monday night at the New York premiere of Power, the new crime series he produces alongside The Good Wife’s Courtney Kemp Agboh.

“When I first met him, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Agboh, who arrived in a sparkly blue Adrianna Papell gown. “I was expecting 50 Cent and what I got was Curtis Jackson, a great storyteller and collaborator. He’s brilliant.”

Jackson dons many hats in his new series, adding actor and executive producer to his normally musically focused resume. “I stayed closer to the talent because there’s a fear factor between actors and the network, especially on first-time shows,” he explains. “The actors were more comfortable talking to me than other executives.”

In true over-the-top fashion, the premiere party was held inside Manhattan’s Highline Ballroom—done up for the night as the show’s imaginary nightclub, Truth (pictured at right)—with Questlove playing DJ and Doug E Fresh as emcee. It was a fittingly ostentatious kickoff for a show about a reformed drug dealer who finds himself at the top of New York’s nightlife food chain.

Speaking of kingpins, before Jackson retired to his private booth, DuJour managed to ask one last question: did he have anything to say about his dismal pitch at last week’s Met’s game?

“Man they keep talking about that pitch so much,” he said. “Will I do it again? I may do it again—at the World Series.”